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Ex-cop Gets 30-year Sentence In Torture Of Haitian Immigrant

December 14, 1999|By From Tribune News Services.

NEW YORK — A white former patrol officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for torturing a Haitian immigrant with a broken broomstick in one of the most shocking acts of police brutality reported in New York City.

Justin Volpe, 27, who pleaded guilty to violating the victim's civil rights, could have received life without parole for the 1997 attack.

"I hurt many people. I was and still am ashamed. . . . I am extremely sorry," Volpe told U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson. "I must, and I will, pay for my crime."

Volpe rammed a broomstick into Abner Louima's rectum in a police station bathroom after arresting him.

Police said Volpe mistakenly thought Louima had punched him from behind during a melee outside a Brooklyn nightclub.

Louima, 30, has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

In imposing the 30-year sentence for Volpe's "barbarous misuse of power," Nickerson said that "it would be difficult to overstate the harm Mr. Volpe inflicted on Mr. Louima, the police department and society at large."

Prosecutor Alan Vinegard had asked for the maximum term, saying Volpe had lied repeatedly by contending, among other things, that Louima's injuries were caused by gay sex.